Circus of Abduction
by Crystal Rivers
Summary: The circus; one of the most popular and controversial forms of public pay-to-play entertainment. Unlike most circuses, Mr. Higgins' Circus of the Multiverse has the crime of kidnapping on its rap sheet. Now legendary spy Solid Snake and his former fellow Brawl competitor, Sonic, along with the Ultimate Lifeform, and time-traveler Silver are Higgins's new additions. Full sum inside.
1. Prolouge

**—Full Summary—**

The circus: one of the most popular and controversial forms of public pay-to-play entertainment. But unlike most circuses, Mr. Higgins' Circus of the Multiverse has the crime of kidnapping on its rap sheet. Their latest additions? The legendary spy Solid Snake and his former fellow Brawl competitor, Sonic the Hedgehog; along with Shadow the Ultimate Lifeform, and time-traveler Silver the Hedgehog. Forced to become "circus freaks," the group must endure a new kind of torment. Freedom isn't free, and every one of them will be reminded of it.

 **—Author's Note—**

 _Inspiration:_ . "Conjured" by Sarah Beth Durst.

The summary quote, "freedom isn't free" is painted on the side of a building in a town I live close to.

There's going to be a non-Sonic/Metal Gear cameo from someone Sonic has met canonically. Whoever guesses it correctly will get a fic request; and I will beta for them forever. Because of the nature of Mr. Higgins circus (which is a preference to a target's original universe), this fic is technically an "alternate multiverse". Lastly, the OCs in this fic are actually part of an original story of mine, titled, "Mr. Higgins' Circus of the Multiverse."

Constructive criticism is appreciated.

 **Genre(s):** Action/Adventure/Hurt/Comfort/Friendship

 **Pairing(s):** Solid Snake/Otacon (Implied/Mentioned) | Shadow/OC (One-sided)

 **Warning(s):** Torture, attempted rape, violence, mild to strong language, and drugs.

 **Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog © Sega. Metal Gear © Konami.**

* * *

Nothing in Snake's life was better than retirement. Especially when there was 'no way in hell' he'd be getting pulled out of it again. But unlike his first retirement, he had more than just the company of 50 huskies.

Presently, Snake lay in bed, half awake, as he listened to the sounds of Otacon and Sunny getting ready for work.

Otacon peaked into their bedroom. "I think you'll want to try Sunny's eggs today, Dave. They're the best she's ever made."

Snake repressed laughter, "I will. I just hope the best she's ever made is the best I'll ever eat."

Otacon rolled his eyes. "Just don't get into any trouble while we're gone."

"Yeah, I know the drill; I'll make sure the government doesn't call me back into service."

Otacon shook his head, and left the house with Sunny in tow.

Snake took his time getting out of bed. He wore a t-shirt and boxers, and had no intention of changing clothes until it was time for Sunny to come home. He went into the kitchen and found a plate of eggs, grits, and a sausage biscuit sitting on the island.

Normally, Snake would have sat down and tried the eggs, then eat the other food and threw them away if they weren't any good. But something was amiss this morning. He eyed the plate suspiciously; his instincts telling him to throw it away and eat some cereal. He went with his instincts, and started digging through the cabinets for a bowl and cereal.

As Snake sat eating cinnamon squares, he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. He couldn't stop thinking; please let Hal and Sunny be okay. After putting his bowl in the sink, he headed for the living room.

Snake stopped at the threshold, sensing someone in the room. He slowly back tracked, then turned around and went straight for his bedroom.

As soon as he reached the door, someone tackled him to the ground, and struggled to keep the retired spy down.

Snake elbowed the intruder in the face, and quickly squirmed out of his grasp. He stood and raced to get the gun he kept under his pillow.

Just as Snake turned to face his attacker, a dart went into his neck; but he managed to shoot the man before he fell to the floor.

The man in black gripped his shoulder, "Damn it!" He pulled a walkie-talkie out of his waistband. "Lionel, get the portal ready, I've got him."

The walkie-talkie crackled to life. "On it."

"And send for a medic!" He barked.

* * *

The last thing Sonic ever expected to happen in his life was for Eggman to finally capture him. But it happened, and there was no changing it; unless you had a time traveling friend, who likes to show up whenever the future needs to be fixed by creating a paradox.

Presently, Silver the Hedgehog appeared in Sonic's cell Terminator style, with the exception of being naked.

Sonic hopped off his bunk, the clang of his shackles ringing painfully in his ears. "Silver! What are you doing here?"

"I can't tell you why; it would destroy our timeline. Just let me get you out of here."

"Sounds good to me."

Silver used his psycho-kinesis to pick the locks on the shackles. But as he did so, neither hedgehog was aware of a man sneaking up to the cell.

Sonic looked up, and before he could say anything, a dart shot into his forehead.

Silver stood when Sonic collapsed, and received a tranquilizer in his arm before he could fight back.

"That was easy." The man who captured Solid Snake slipped between the bars after disabling the electric current. He eyed his catch with grim satisfaction.

"You there, O'Malley?" Lionel's voice crackled from O'Malley's hip.

O'Malley took out his walkie-talkie. "Loud and statically."

"I got good news. I've found the black hedgehog."

"Great, but first let me haul these two through the portal."

"Gotcha."

A swirling green portal appeared, and O'Malley threw Sonic into it head first. But he stopped before he grabbed Silver. "Aw, shit."

Silver had stirred strongly from his drugged stupor, and would have got up if O'Malley had not put a needle in his arm; this one with much stronger drugs than the dart.

"Lionel, you're gonna have to keep this white one doped up. He almost woke up on me."

"Whatever, just toss him in so I can get you to the last one."

O'Malley picked his catch up by the quills, careful not to aggravate his gun-shot wound, and threw Silver into the portal like a ragdoll. Once that was done, he waited for Lionel to change the portal destination. He went through it after he was given the signal.

* * *

Shadow kicked a dark grey, human sized voodoo dummy into the back wall of the G.U.N. training center. He slammed another down when it tried to jump him from behind. And for the last, he pulled his 9-mm Pistol from his subspace and shot an approaching dummy in the head.

With the last of the dummies dispatched, the training program announced the end of the training simulation.

"I can never get a challenge." The Ultimate Life-form muttered.

"You will now." O'Malley said.

Shadow whipped around and shot at the intruder.

O'Malley dodged just enough, and the bullet grazed his side. "Nice try." He ran at Shadow, dart gun drawn.

Shadow tried to shoot him, but his gun clicked. With no time to reload, he ran at O'Malley and attempted to pistol whip him.

O'Malley dodged the pistol with ease and caught Shadow's arm.

Shadow kicked O'Malley in the jaw, back flipping out of the hold. He punched the man in the gut, and took the dart gun out of his hand. Shadow aimed it at O'Malley's arm. But before he could shoot the man, a heavy tranquilizer embedded itself in his back.

Someone picked up O'Malley's dart gun, and held it out to him once he recovered. "You're lucky I'm on your side." A man said.

O'Malley looked up, and met the two-toned eyes of Commander Tower. "Yeah…I sure am." He rasped out. He took the gun when he stood and shook the commander's hand. "Glad you saw things our way."

Tower scoffed. "The only reason I helped you is because I'm at the end of my rope with this hedgehog; thanks to Mr. Higgins I can finally be rid of him."

The portal appeared, and O'Malley scooped Shadow up. He stopped at the portal and turned back to give Tower a small salute. "Pleasure doing business."

"Oh no, the pleasure is mine."


	2. Brothers in Kidnapping

**EDIT 1/11/2018:** I feel like my pacing with this story is off, so I added a scene that was originally from chapter 3 in here, not simply to pad it, but because it also makes more sense for it to happen in this chapter.

* * *

Four unconscious heroes sat, in various awkward positions, against the bars of a wagon cage. The irate screaming of strangers had woke the group, which consisted of Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and Solid Snake. The first thing they felt were heavy, rusty chains.

The chains chaffed their legs and ankles, connected into one mid-length chain behind them, and attached to a bar at a corner of the cage. The boys had headaches that felt like hangovers from a whisky chugging contest. There were gags of various qualities silencing them. A grated restraint mask of worn leather covered Shadow's face. Silver was choking on a balled up rag, held to his mouth with a torn up garter strap, and soaked in a sedative. Sonic struggled to spit a ball gall out of his mouth; but it was covered by a bandana. A simple strip of duct tape kept Snake silent.

A large black tarp covered the cage. The light was dim, but light enough to see vague outlines of facial expressions. The voices outside rose and fell randomly and none of the captives were clear-headed enough to understand the words.

Snake blinked a few times, his vision was too fuzzy for comfort.

Upon recognizing the spy, Sonic perked up, saying, "Eyy nnekke!"

Snake groaned irritably.

"Whrmm urrh we?" Sonic asked with a drunken slur in his voice.

Snake shook his head; hoping the gesture would keep Sonic quiet.

Silver's gagging became louder, worsening their headaches and gaining their captor's attention.

"Shut up in there!" A rough voiced male said.

 _Where have I heard_ that _before?_ Snake thought.

Snake sat, presumably, in the back left corner of the cage. Sonic was in the upper right corner, Silver on the left, and Shadow in the back right.

Sonic pulled hard on his chains. He only managed to cause a racket and amplify the pain on his wrists and ankles.

The tarp was lifted behind Sonic, and then a cattle prod slid through the bars and shocked him. The electric current traveled to the others via the cage, and they screamed in a chorus of pain.

A man screamed for the cattle prod wielder to stop. Mercifully, they did.

The prisoners slumped forward in their restraints. Sonic was convulsing heavily; while Snake, Shadow, and Silver were shaking so hard their teeth chattered.

The wagon stopped, and the tarp was lifted. Blinding light filled the cage, and the occupants cringed. A tall, slender man opened the cage door—between Sonic and Shadow—and dragged everyone out by their chains, one by one, after he unlocked them. He tossed them onto the grass carelessly, and hit Snake in the back with the long end of his chain.

They were in a sunny, open meadow, with a forest surrounding it in the distance and a few trees off to the side. A stream flowed behind an oak tree close to the center of the clearing.

Their heads were spinning, and their stomachs were killing them. A few feet away, a man was yelling; "start settin' up boys! We've got a lot 'o work to do if we're gonna be up 'n runnin' by Friday."

The soft crunches of a boot stopped behind Snake's head and a large round shadow blocked the sun, as he lay on his side, facing the three hedgehogs who glared at the two captors. He smelled vanilla scented smoke; had to be a cigar.

The man standing over Snake prodded his head with a steel-toe boot. "Get a load 'o this, O'Malley. Fine catches, eh?"

O'Malley eyed them skeptically. "Think they'll be worth the trouble, Mr. Higgins?" He emphasized 'trouble' with a gesture to his bandaged right shoulder.

Higgins tapped ashes off his cigar, letting them fall on Snake's cheek. "Trust me, O'Malley, these boys are circus material. Nice pieces a work, though." His voice oozed with sleazy cunning.

"It took a lot of drugs to keep 'em all under. You think we got enough to keep 'em tame?"

"Oh yeah, we got plenty. 'Sides, I know I guy here who can hook us up if we need more." He turned and walked off. "Get those punks tied down 'till we can start workin' on 'em." He called over his shoulder.

O'Malley rolled his eyes and picked up Snake's chain. He pulled it, "get up, dickhead, and make this easy on yourself."

Snake stood on unsteady feet. The drugs and the electric shock were taking their toll.

O'Malley started walking past the others, grabbing their back chains and pulling them to their feet as he went. He dragged them to the oak tree by the stream. He then reached up to a low lying, reasonably thick branch, and attached their chains to it. All four of them were lined up, from truck to branch —Shadow, Sonic, Silver, and then Snake—, on standing feet.

Silver fell unconscious again, so O'Malley removed his gag. "Poor little bastard. Took a lotta stuff to keep _him_ knocked out."

"Watch who your insulting, asshole!" Shadow snapped. The muzzle made him threatening _and_ ridiculous.

O'Malley rewarded Shadow with a backhand.

"I suggest you learn your place, flea-bag." He spat on the hedgehog's forehead, and stalked off towards the wagon train.

"Damn bastard." Shadow growled as he rubbed his head against the tree trunk.

Snake had been busy blowing against the tape, and had now removed it; albeit he had to chew it up and spit it out. "What was the point of tape and a muzzle for us? You can still talk and I can take it off with my breath!"

Sonic supplied, with lighthearted sarcasm, "mhbyeee ehy thugh oouh err the sweeht on's."

Shadow and Snake scoffed. Then all eyes turned worriedly to Silver.

The time traveler's head was slumped onto his chest fur, and his tongue poked out the side of his mouth.

Snake slid over to him and bent his head close to the hedgehog's muzzle. "Still breathing." He looked at Sonic and Shadow. "But whatever they used to keep him under almost killed him."

 _Why would they use so much for Silver, of all people?_ Shadow thought.

"Nuhh les fihhur ouh huhw oo geh ouh ff hrre."

A young man in a cream blue blazer and black cat suit sauntered over to them. "Hey prisoners!" He offered them a small wave and a cheeky smile.

The three conscious captives glared at the man.

"Okay…Tough crowd." He shrugged and crossed his arms. "Listen, I've got some advice for you fellas."

Sonic sputtered, and made an unintelligible remark.

The visitor rolled his eyes. "Look, whatever ya do; _don't_ underestimate Mr. Higgins. He _can_ and _will_ make your time here a living hell; however long it is. _Trust me_." His seriousness increased on the last note.

"Whatever kid. Now, you gonna knock us out or what?" Snake mocked.

"Nah. I'mma let Syla do that. It was pretty funny watching him drag you out of the cage." The cat suited boy slapped his thigh. "And when he spit in the black hedgehog's face! Oh my _gawd_!"

Shadow glared daggers at the boy. "My name is _Shadow_ ; and you're end will be painful when _I_ get out of here!"

"Mine's Conier, and I look forward to it!" He called back, snickering, as he jogged back to the circus preparations.

For a while afterwards, the boys hung there undisturbed in their planning escape. Sadly, they did get put back to sleep by Syla after Sonic tried to break the branch.

* * *

"Psst! Snake, you up?" Sonic whispered.

They were back in the wagon cage. The chains they had originally been held in were attached to the back wall.

"Kinda hard not to be."

"That stuff wore off for you too didn't it?"

Snake groaned, since it was too dark to give the hedgehog a 'no shit Sherlock' look.

"You got any ideas of getting out of here?"

"No. And my codec's not working, so we won't be getting outside help anytime soon."

"Why are you guys so loud?" Silver griped from beside Snake. "We're trying to sleep."

"Sorry, sleepyhead, but we're trying to come up with a plan to get outta here." Sonic snapped.

Snake rolled onto his side, facing the wall, and tried to go back to sleep.

"All of you shut up." Shadow hissed, half-awake, as he rolled onto his side, facing Silver.

Everyone went quiet for what felt like hours, but was actually a few minutes. Suddenly Sonic sprung up. "Silver!"

"Whaat?"

"Is your psychokinesis working?"

"I don't know."

"Try to pick the locks." Sonic urged.

Silver felt around with his mind, and found the locks. A dim blue glow surrounded him and the chains. When he couldn't push against the tumblers, he focused on his own chain instead.

Everyone watched the glowing hedgehog hopefully.

After halfway unlocking the chain, a terrible migraine broke his focus, and he stopped instantly.

"What was that?"

Silver curled up, his chains scraping the floor and jingling. "My head." He whimpered.

"Whatever they gave him must have caused this." Shadow pointed out. Then it occurred to him. "None of us can use our abilities. That's why we could we hardly "

After much argument, everyone decided that their only hope for escape was to get the mysterious drugs out of their system. But at one point, O'Malley came into the cage, at which point they pretended to sleep, and dosed them with sleeping serum.


	3. 1 2 3 GO!

The circus prisoners awoke once again in the wagon cage; wishing all that transpired before had been a dream. Everyone opened their eyes slightly and looked around, Sonic lay on the far left, and Shadow, Silver, and Snake lay on Sonic's left. They didn't know if they'd woken prematurely, so everyone pretended to be asleep.

"Wake up, shitheads!" A familiar voice yelled above them.

Said persons sat up with mostly false fatigue.

Syla O'Malley had a cat-o-nine-tails style spiked whip in one hand, and a key in the other. He wore a belt with multiple weapons, and a pouch on his left side held a pack of syringes.

"Now, I assume you pussy livers know that we didn't bring you here so you could look pretty in a cage. I'm going to get you boys doped up, so you don't try to anything when I release you."

Syla pulled out a syringe, and knelt in front of Snake. "I'm going to enjoy this."

Snake head butted Syla when he brought the syringe to his neck.

Syla jumped back, holding his bleeding nose. "You'll pay for that." He punched Snake hard, knocking him back, and then held him down as he forced the needle into his vein.

Meanwhile Sonic, Shadow, and Silver had been struggling against their restraints. Silver, however, was far weaker than the others.

Then Syla moved on to Silver. He pushed him down with little effort and said, "Don't worry; you don't need as much as they do." He plunged the needle into the hedgehog's arm.

Sonic and Shadow struggled the most, but were defeated all the same.

Syla unlocked their chains once the drugs kicked in, which was not long. They were all groggy at first, so he forced them to their feet. He led them over to another tent connected to the one they were in, where they trained their unwilling talents. Syla had lined them up single file, with Snake in front of him, and pushed them all at once into the open space at the center of the tent.

Snake fell forward and knocked Silver, Shadow, and Sonic into the space domino style.

The four boys lay sprawled on the ground, barely able to stand.

"On your feet, bitches."

They struggled to their feet, and then each of them glared —or tried to— at Syla.

Syla smiled as he caressed the spiked whip. "You are so _cute!_ Thinking you can scare me with mean looks." He teased with mock sweetness. The mockery was then replaced with seriousness. "Now, I want the four of you to get on those balance beams and stuff over there—" he pointed to the left of the open space, where said gymnastic equipment was. "—and practice performing a few stunts. Got it?" He tilted his head to the side with a patronizing expression.

Snake and Shadow huffed, while Sonic and Silver rolled their eyes, before going over to the equipment. Each of them climbed onto a balance beam, pull up stand, or rings.

Silver hopped onto a low balance beam in the back. He held his arms out for balance and started walking to the other side. Sonic and Shadow had chose the rings. However, they differed wildly in their preparation; Sonic attempted vertical flips, while Shadow practiced holding himself off the ground. And Snake had kept busy by doing pull ups beside the rings. After several minutes, the grogginess faded almost entirely, and everyone was doing their own stunts.

Silver did a strange mix of cartwheels and back flips. Sonic was doing some kind of aerial break dancing. Shadow used the entire rig to do various acrobatics. And Snake, well, nobody knows exactly what he was doing; but it wasn't bad to watch.

A loud crack sounded in the tent, accompanied by a scream through gritted teeth. All heads turned toward the source.

Shadow was on his hands and knees, with several of the whip's spikes stuck in his back.

Everyone jumped down from their equipment, shock and anger on all but Snake's face.

Sonic and Silver tried to run to Shadow's aid, but Snake held them back. He bent down and whispered, "Not yet."

Syla stalked over to him while jerking the whip. He crouched behind Shadow and pulled his head back by the quills. "I've never seen such pitiful routines in my life."

"Bet you couldn't do better." Shadow growled.

Syla shoved the hedgehog onto the ground and whipped him in the back of the head. "Just for that, you're suffering will be twice as bad as your friends."

"O'Malley!" Someone screamed.

All heads turned to Conier as he stepped out of the shadows. He looked wildly overconfident and serious, and was dressed in a light blue acrobat suit with yellow stripes on the sides. "Never thought you'd back down from a challenge. How about instead of all this power play, you give the guy a chance to prove himself?"

"Stay out of this, _Connor._ " Syla spat. "This is between me and my 'trainee'."

"I'd say it's a little more than that, _Old Mallard._ " Conier walked towards him. "You're afraid Mr. Higgins' is getting ready to let you go in your old age. You're afraid that he—" Conier pointed to Shadow. "—is a better acrobat than you. And you won't admit it."

Syla faced Conier with hateful eyes. "I won't admit to an idiot's gossip."

"So why'd you single him out? No one else was doing as good as him. If you were going to pick anyone, you should've picked him." He pointed at Silver. "And if you're so much better, can't you beat him while he's doped up and bleeding anyway?"

Syla went white at that. He whipped around and saw Sonic had helped Shadow to his feet, and Silver and Snake had come over to them. Syla went stone faced, and brought up the whip, aiming to get Shadow and Sonic in one blow.

Conier snatched the whip from Syla. "You won't need that."

Syla glared at the younger acrobat, who gave him a smirk in return.

After a tense silence, Syla said, "fine. I'll accept the challenge."

After Shadow had his cuts cleaned and covered, he and Syla went to another circus tent. This one was much larger, and seemed to be designed for the very business they had in there.

It was mostly open space, with a large mat in the center of the floor. There was gymnastic equipment of various sorts surrounding the mat; and high above them were a trapeze and tight-rope.

Shadow and Syla went straight to the center of the mat. Someone dragged a 4-foot high balance beam into the center, then left as Conier came towards them; Conier got between Syla and Shadow and looked at the gathered circus performers and the other three prisoners.

"Ladies and —well, none of you are gentlemen. Come to think of it no one here is a lady ether—"

"Get on with it twin!" called a brunette in a cat suit identical to Conier's.

"—shut up Cici!" He shouted back. "Anyway, I think you all know that we're here to see Ol'Mallard get served so Mr. Higgins can fire him."

The assembled performers suppressed laughter.

"So, let's get this show on the road. Ol'Mallard, you'll start."

The competitors nodded, never breaking their stares.

"Now back up, both of ya." Syla and Shadow gladly obeyed. "Just to be clear, you get one round, one shot. Impress us." Conier said. "Be ready on 'go'."

Syla stretched his arms and legs, being careful with his right shoulder.

"1…"

He popped his shins and knuckles.

"2…"

He twisted and popped his back.

"3…"

He and Shadow stared each other down.

"GO!"

Syla started his with a cartwheel and some aerials. Then he did a back flip and landed on the balance beam in the center. He began his balance beam stunts with a cartwheel that became an aerial midway, and ended in a flip off the balance beam. Syla then back flipped onto the balance beam, landing on his hands. And then he twisted his legs in the air, and brought them down to jump over them and land on his hands with his legs in the air. He finished by flipping over into a standing position, and bowing to his audience. Unfortunately, his entire routine was less impressive from hiccups caused by his gunshot wound.

Only two of the people that applauded him meant it with enthusiasm.

Conier feigned indifference, "alright, now out with the _old_ and in with the _new._ You're up, Shadykins!"

Shadow threw an evil look back at Conier as he walked toward the balance beam.

"1…"

Shadow stretched his legs.

"2…"

He popped his neck and back.

"3…..."

He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

"GO!"

Shadow started by jumping onto the balance beam, hands first, and doing a few break dance moves before reverse back bending onto his feet. He back flipped off the balance beam and grabbed onto it, swinging under it. And then he wrapped his legs around the balance beam and flipped his way to the end of it. Shadow climbed down the leg of the balance beam with various twists and flips. He did an aerial to land on the floor, and back flipped over the balance beam. He finished it off by swinging around the balance beam and tossing himself into the air, where he did several different flips and landed with a roll, and hopped up unscathed.

The performers supplied Shadow with an honest, excited applause.

"Now _that_ was a show." Conier said, stepping forward to shake Shadow's hand.

Shadow refused the handshake, giving a simple, "thank you," instead.

Conier shrugged it off and looked at his fellow circus performers. "Well, what'cha think, guys? Who's our winner?"

"Shadow!" They cried.

"As expected." Conier shook his head, smiling. "Now go on back to your friends. And if Ol'Mallard messes with you again, let me know."

For the rest of the day, Shadow and his fellow prisoners did practice routines undisturbed, except for being pulled out of said practice to have the docility drugs re-administered to them.


End file.
